Everything you need to know about Gradient Map
Gradient Map replaces the brightness values of your image with colors from a three-point gradient. Dark areas take on the shadow color, bright areas become the highlight color, and midtones blend through the mid color. This creates powerful colorization effects, from subtle toning to dramatic color transformations.
Parameters
- Shadow Color
The color applied to the darkest areas of your image. Click to open a color picker. - Mid Color
The color applied to midtones. This is the "pivot" point of the gradient, controlling the transition between shadows and highlights. - Highlight Color
The color applied to the brightest areas of your image. - Mid Position
Controls where the mid color sits in the tonal range. At 0.5, it's centered. Lower values (0.2–0.4) shift the mid color toward shadows, making more of the image take on highlight tones. Higher values (0.6–0.8) do the opposite. - Mix
Blends the gradient-mapped result with the original image. At 0, no change is visible. At 1.0, the full gradient map is applied. Use intermediate values for subtle color toning.
How It Works
The filter converts each pixel to luminance (brightness), then uses that value to look up a color along the gradient you've defined. Pure black maps to the shadow color, pure white to the highlight color, and everything in between smoothly interpolates through the mid color.
Tips
- For classic duotone: set mid color to a blend of your shadow and highlight colors
- Use similar colors for subtle split-toning effects (e.g., cool shadows, warm highlights)
- Try contrasting colors for bold, graphic poster effects
- Adjust mid position to fine-tune which tones receive which colors